Suicide Bomb Hits Iraq's Kurdish North

A suicide truck bomb exploded in the city of Kirkuk in Iraq's Kurdish north Sunday in an attack that left at least 18 people dead and another 55 wounded, police said.

A gunman sitting beside the suicide bomber opened fire on civilians before the truck slammed into the city's criminal court and exploded, said police Brig. Sarhat Qadir.

The court is located near the offices of the region's two main parties — the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said police Col. Burhan Tayeb.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is run by Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, while the president of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, runs the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Barzani recently angered many in Baghdad when he ordered the Iraqi national flag to be replaced with the Kurdish banner on all government buildings in the autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Kirkuk is located just outside the autonomous region. His decision Sept. 1 led to an outcry, particularly among Sunni Arab lawmakers who fear that Kurds are pushing for secession under the nation's new federal system.

In separate attacks in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in the south of the city, killing two civilians and wounding four, while another roadside bomb also targeting a police patrol in another part of the city wounded three civilians, Qadir said.

Violence across Iraq has killed hundreds of people in recent weeks.

In Baghdad, the bloodshed has escalated sharply in the past week, with more than 180 people killed since Wednesday — either slain by bombs and gunfire or tortured and shot before being dumped on city streets or in rivers, a hallmark of reprisal killings being waged between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

On Sunday, the bullet-riddled bodies of four unidentified men were found in separate neighborhoods in east Baghdad. All were blindfolded and had their hands and legs tied, said police Maj. Mahir Hamad Mussa.

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[effallah]

Kirkuk is, of course, not in the Kurdish north. It's a mixed northern city outside the Kurdish area, with Arab, Turkmen and Kurdish population, which is being forcibly populated with Kurds, whilst the other ethnic groups are being cleansed. This is significant as the area around Kirkuk controls considerable oil resources, which the Kurds intend to make part of a future Kurdish region.

The status of KLirkuk is one of the most dangerous disputes in Iraq and it is interesting to see the American media taking sides in it. You have to wonder if the journalist is incompetent or malicious.